The first rule is honesty: Tell the child a loved one has cancer. Lying or misleading will backfire, and that won't help anyone during this critical time in your family's lives.

Related

When a family faces the crisis of a testicular cancer diagnosis, adults worry how the children will react. Some are inclined to keep it a secret. But children are often more aware that something's going on than adults might think. And if a child learns from an outsider that a family member has cancer, that can open a can of worms in terms of trust between parents and children. The American Cancer Society and other experts encourage an open dialogue with children when a family member is diagnosed with testicular cancer.

Keeping the news about testicular cancer a secret could make a child feel separated or isolated, even though you're just trying to shield him from this stress. And when the treatment starts, your child can't help but notice time away in the hospital, and side effects from radiation or chemotherapy such as vomiting, tiredness, or hair loss. Your child will be fearful and may assume the family member is going to die. Preparing your child for what's to come is a way of providing coping skills in advance.

Testicular Cancer: Talking About It

But what exactly should you say? All children should know the name of the diagnosed cancer, what part of the body it affects, the planned treatment, and what it will all mean to the family's day-to-day lives. But beyond that, your child's age is important in deciding the level of detail to discuss. The American Cancer Society advises that children up to the age of 8 don't need lots of details, but older kids do need more information. Try these steps as you prepare to discuss testicular cancer with a child:

Plan out what you'd like to say and set aside enough quiet time for the talk.

Explain that when bad cells start to grow in a body part, in this case the testicle, they must be removed. Because cancer can grow to other body parts, treatments like chemotherapy or radiation take place to stop that spread.

Reassure the child that testicular cancer is nobody's fault, and that it is not contagious.

Explain that your family must pull together to cope with the testicular cancer.

Assure the child that the sick person still loves her, but that he may have less time to share for a while.

Encourage your child to ask questions &mdash: either during the conversation or at another time if he thinks of things he wants to ask later.

If both the adult explaining testicular cancer and the child listening shed some tears, that's fine. Be sure to communicate that cancer is a serious disease, but testicular cancer is far from hopeless. Depending on a child's level of maturity, he may be upset, misbehave, blame himself, be quiet, or exhibit new types of behaviors.

Testicular Cancer: Explaining Death to a Child

If your child asks if the family member with testicular cancer will die, don't avoid the question. Answer honestly by explaining that this type of cancer isn't hard to treat and that the doctors don't expect that to happen, but that there is indeed a small chance.

If your family member does die from testicular cancer, again, be honest about it. Don't say that he "went away" or another vague explanation. Provide reassurance, show affection, say it's okay to talk about it, and don't hide your own feelings.

Testicular Cancer: Signs a Child Isn’t Coping

You'll know your child is having a hard time coping and needs help from a counselor if he shows any of the following behavioral signs for more than a week or two:

Becomes isolated and withdrawn

Behaves extremely differently

Can't concentrate

Can't be soothed or comforted

Can't handle the sad feelings and is sad most of the time

Can't sleep

Gets mad quickly

Can’t maintain grades at school

Loses energy and has no appetite or eats too much

Mentions thoughts of suicide

Shows little interest in any activity

Cries a lot

When a family member faces testicular cancer, or even death, the best way to help a child cope is with honesty, plenty of talk, and support.

This site complies with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information: verify here.

Advertising Notice

This Site and third parties who place advertisements on this Site may collect and use information about
your visits to this Site and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of
interest to you. If you would like to obtain more information about these advertising practices and to make
choices about online behavioral advertising, please click here.